Tomas Kaberle is set to earn $4.25 million US in the 2010-11 NHL season. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)The clock struck midnight Monday and Tomas Kaberle remained a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
General manager Brian Burke has been unable to find a trade partner since a no-trade window in the veteran defenceman's contract opened at the June NHL entry draft but has now closed.
The Leafs could still deal Kaberle, but would need the 32-year-old's permission.
One report Sunday evening suggested a team from the NHL's Eastern Conference and another from the West was still in the hunt.
"While a number of clubs made offers to trade for Tomas, none of them reflected Tomas's value to our team," Burke said in a statement.
"I understand a period like this is stressful to the player, and we are pleased that there is a resolution, and we can all continue to prepare for the coming season."
Kaberle, a four-time NHL all-star, is entering the fifth and final year of his contract that will pay him a salary cap-friendly $4.25 million US.
He has spent his entire career with the Maple Leafs and is the only player remaining from the team's last playoff season in 2004.
Kaberle scored seven goals and 49 points in 82 regular-season games in 2009-10.
The smooth-skating defenceman has appeared in 820 career games for the Maple Leafs, stretching all the way back to when the team still played at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Selected in the eighth round of the 1996 draft by Toronto, Kaberle appeared in just two American Hockey League games before making the jump to the NHL. He has represented the Czech Republic in three Olympics, winning bronze in 2006.
He is the franchise's second-highest-scoring defenceman in history. His 482 points (80-402), trailing only the 762 registered by Borje Salming.
With files from The Canadian Press
